Chunli Beats World No 2 at Women’s World Cup

A stunning win by New Zealander Li Chunli at the World Cup reminded the giants of the table tennis world that Oceania can hold its head high even in this elite company. And it was their second reminder in successive years – in 1997 Chunli had finished 3rd in the same event.

In beating Li Ju (China), ranked No 2 in the world (21-13; 20-22; 21-19), Chunli scored the best win ever by a New Zealand player at a world event. The win was in group play and Chunli also accounted for two other players in the world’s top twenty (a Hungarian and a Chinese-born Canadian) to win the group. She then lost her quarter-final match to finish 5th equal. There was no 5th-8th play-off.

The tournament was held in Taipei, Taiwan in November and is limited to one player from each continental federation, several direct entries due to high world rankings and at least two wild card places. The total field is 16 players.

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Clean Sweep Over Top Aussies at Oceania Championships

New Zealand won both the Men’s and the Women’s team titles at the ninth Oceania Championships, played in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia in late April. It was the first time the NZ men and women had both triumphed over Australia at these championships in the same year.

Peter Jackson and Li Chunli led the way with two singles wins each. The women’s final went to a fifth and final match requiring Karen Li to beat Australia’s No 2 Shirley Zhou which she did in a tense encounter, 21-16; 22-20. In the men’s final Shane Laugesen recorded a good win over the 1994 Oceania Champion Paul Langley in the second match, leaving Peter Jackson to secure the title with his second win. This gave the men a win by the more comfortable margin of 3-0.

In the Under 20 team events the young New Zealanders were unable to match the senior teams’ performance. The men and women both lost to Australia’s top teams in this age group.

Chunli dominated the women’s individual events - winning the Gold Medal in the singles, and also in the doubles with her sister Karen. Several team members reached the quarter-finals and three of the four semi-finalists in the mixed doubles were NZ pairs. Peter Jackson and Chunli were beaten 21-18 in the fifth game by Langley and Zhou in the final.

The full team was (Seniors) Andrew Hubbard, Peter Jackson, Shane Laugesen, Aaron Winborn, Sarah Finch, Li Chunli, Karen Li, Tracey Phillips; (Under 20) Chen Lei, Stephen Hirst, Vincent Ho, Paul Innes, Samara Collins, Anna Danby, Catherine Danby, Tracey McLauchlan; (Coaches) Zhu Hui, Murray Finch, Stacey Hooper; (Manager) Michael Brown.

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Two New Paid Positions Created

On the initiative of Executive Director Mike Brown, and with the financial support of the NZ Employment Service, TTNZ was able to employ a fulltime National Development Officer for a six months period from 1 November; and (in a shared arrangement with North Harbour TTA) a paid National Coach from February to December.

John Stapleton was appointed to the Development Officer’s position, bringing with him the experience of fostering strong membership growth in his home association (North Harbour), developing participation programmes in schools, and building rapport with Regional Sports Trusts.

Zhu Hui secured the position of National Coach, having coached in Hutt Valley and Auckland as well as his home country of China. He was appointed ahead of another strong contender, Richard Lee.

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NZ Performs Well at Asian Championships

Competing against teams from Asia, the powerhouse of world table tennis, the New Zealand team performed above expectations at these championships held in Osaka, Japan. The women finished 9th out of 20, and the men 12th out of 24. The highlight was a win by Li Chunli over World No 20, Park Hae Jung (South Korea). Chunli also reached the last 16 in the individual events.

The others in the team were Karen Li, Sarah Finch, Tracey Epps, Andrew Hubbard (who narrowly lost a spectacular match against the top Kazakhstan player), Aaron Winborn and Chris Herlihy. The team coaches were Zhu Hui and Murray Finch.

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Big Coaching Course Held – More Than 50 Coaches Accredited

Coaching in New Zealand took a leap forward when the coaching manual was rewritten and the revised version made the central resource at a major coaching course held in North Harbour Stadium in October. It was an elaborate event involving eight of NZ’s top players, the best of the country’s coaches, selected junior players, a large group of trainee coaches from throughout New Zealand  and professional supervision by outside sports training contractor Lyn Johnston and TTNZ National Coach Zhu Hui. As well as practical coaching instruction, the course covered problem-solving, communication skills, discipline management and cultural issues. After sitting a practical and theoretical examination, more than fifty trainees graduated as Level One coaches.

The course was supported financially by the Sport Fitness and Recreation Industry Training Organisation (SFRITO).

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Extensive Tour of NZ by Executive Director and Development Officer

In November, Executive Director Mike Brown and National Development Officer John Stapleton spent several weeks travelling the country visiting Associations. A key focus of the visits was to establish the specific needs of each area and to discuss their individual financial situations. It was also a useful public relations exercise. The two officers received hospitable receptions and a follow-up visit by John was promised in 1999 to offer and discuss development ideas for each region.

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First Summer Nationals Held

At the instigation of Table Tennis Nelson, a new national tournament was added to the TTNZ calendar. Held in Nelson on 17-21 January, the inaugural Summer Nationals received modest support but was memorable for its laid-back atmosphere. Spare time was scheduled during each afternoon, allowing players to enjoy the Nelson summer between playing sessions. Open, graded and age-group events were held as well as team contests.

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Website Set Up

The TTNZ website (www.tabletennis.org.nz) was launched early in the year after Executive Director Mike Brown had designed and built it over the summer, largely in his own time and from his home. In due course, management and maintenance of the site was delegated to Robin Radford and it grew rapidly in size and scope.

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National School Teams Championships Opened to All

After more than a decade of segmentation into district and regional play-offs culminating in a national final, this event was converted into a one-off open tournament preceding the NZ Championships. It was a popular move and the inaugural open event, hosted by North Harbour, attracted 33 primary, intermediate and secondary teams. A busy and boisterous atmosphere prevailed. The Commercial Union trophy, presented by the championships original sponsor, was awarded to the winning team (Nelson College, represented by Chen Lei, Jeff Vinicombe and David Woo).

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Table Tennis Week

A week in June was designated “Table Tennis Week” by TTNZ. National press releases were issued and individual associations encouraged to organise promotional events. The response from some associations was lukewarm but others, notably Southland, entered energetically into the spirit of the occasion.

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Table Tennis Info Magazine Mailed Direct to all Registered Members

The creation of a database of all registered members (refer below) enabled distribution of Table Tennis Info magazine to be expanded and a copy mailed to each individual member. It resulted in increased costs but, being the first opportunity for the national body to communicate directly with all its members, the initiative was a valuable public relations exercise.

Issue No 8 (September, 1998) was the first to be mailed direct and the practice continued till the 26th and final issue in May, 2006.

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Obituary - Frank O'Gorman

Frank O’Gorman (South Canterbury) was among the most knowledgeable table tennis connoisseurs this country has known. He travelled the world to major events, maintained an expansive library of table tennis press-cuttings, records and photographs, and was himself a prolific supplier of copy to the NZ press. He won numerous titles as a veteran player, three times won the South Canterbury men’s singles in the 1940s, and was an able administrator.

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Individual Member Registration Introduced

In a radical new move, TTNZ brought in a measure requiring all District Associations to register their members individually for recording on a national database. A registration fee of $5 per member was charged in the first year but after a change of policy recommended by the AGM, registration from 1999 was free.

The system enabled TTNZ to maintain more accurate membership records and provided a means of communicating directly with all registered members.

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Computers Cause Confusion at North Island Championships

A series of computer glitches threw a whole tournament into disarray and caused frustration to dozens of players and acute embarrassment to the organisers.

The North Island championships, hosted by Auckland, was to be a show-case of modern technology, with a computer expert from outside the district contracted to provide the software and a team of Auckland officials experienced at running national tournaments at the helm.

The main problem was the inability of the players to operate or read the computer monitors set up to replace the tried and true semaphore board. Memory capacity in the computers was found wanting, matches got further and further behind schedule and there were delays generating second and third division draws.

Clashes between angry players and frustrated officials aggravated the problem.

The tournament was rescued by some level-headed crisis-management, all matches got played and the event concluded with some spectacular table tennis in the closing stages.

Auckland was scheduled to host the NZ Championships later in the year and that event was extremely well-organised and trouble-free.

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Media Scrum After Towelling Incident

A somewhat disproportionate amount of media interest was generated by a controversy at the NZ championships when a player was penalised by the umpire for delaying play by excessive use of his towel. The player appealed to the referee, and the umpire was replaced.

The degree of media coverage was somewhat unnecessary and did not enhance the public image of table tennis.

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